Intro to Humanities, Room 222, Thurs. Dec. 6th
10:50 – 12:05 will include the following:
Andrea Meese
Breaking Social and Psychological Boundaries in The Blind Side
The Blind Side confronts issues of racial and economic stereotyping, expresses the effects of self-fulfilling prophecies, and proves that breaking flawed social boundaries can bring about life-changing experiences. The Blind Side is a 2009 movie based on the true life story of Michael Ohr, an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens. In the movie, Michael’s journey from homelessness to NFL football player is largely based on the kindness of a stranger named Leann Touhy. In today’s society, the idea of a wealthy white family taking in a homeless black boy from the projects is scoffed at by people. Yet, when Leann sees that Michael is in need, she chooses to break these flawed boundaries set forth by society by taking him in and caring for him. Continuing to choose to break boundaries, Leann and her husband Shawn, eventually adopt Michael as their son. Michael’s life had been inundated with negative self-fulfilling prophecies that need to be broken for Michael to become productive. To break the cycle of negative self-fulfilling prophecies, Weinstein states, alternative interventions need to be implemented by family, other schools, or teachers (9). By accepting Michael into her home, and believing in him, Leann provides the opportunity for Michael to break the cycle of negative self-fulfilling prophecies in his life, completely altering the course of Michael’s existence.
Morgan Cupps
The Devil in a Blue Dress: A Film Noir Interpretation of Racial Tensions in the 1950s
The 1950s bring to mind the image of the American Dream, white picket fences, and 2.5 children. With this image, it is hard to forget that segregation since existed and skin color meant everything. The 1995 film adaption of the novel The Devil in a Blue Dress, set in 1948, takes the point of view of an African American to show the darker side of the decade. The film addresses racial tensions in several ways. It shows that only whites were considered the higher class, hotel and nightclubs were restricted by race, and interracial dating would isolate couples. According to Buendia, “… racial unconscious involves the latent and explicit meanings of racial subject and spaces coexisting in states of representational tension” (7). What is meant by this is each race had to stay in their place because if they crossed over in areas that did not belong to them, they were creating tension and upsetting the balance. The Devil in a Blue Dress portrays this tension and the racial boundaries by having an African American overcome it all to solve the mystery within the story. The film is significant because it showcases the relations between the public and the private, the racial boundaries of the time period, and the differences between high and low classes in Los Angeles.
Diana Sosa
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: History and Humanity
In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, two young boys, Bruno and Shmuel, want to become friends, but boundaries cause conflict in their friendship. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a powerful movie because it explores class stereotypes, psychological conflicts within each of the characters, and breaking parental boundaries that will help the characters see the truth. Set during the Holocaust, one boy is German, Bruno, and the other is a Jew, Shmuel, but it is hard on them to understand why they can’t be friends. Their innocence and their parents hiding the truth lets them know something is wrong about the whole thing, but they just don’t know the truth. In a web page article, Rea suggests, “Bruno, by his ignorance and innocence, becomes as much a victim of his father’s epic malfeasance as the Jews sent to the camp to starve, to die.” Being a German soldier, Bruno’s dad has a duty to let his children know to hate the Jews, he even gets a tutor to come to their house and teach them the German ways. Another German soldier has to live with a secret — his dad’s disapproval — so his family doesn’t get hurt as well. The movie helps viewers see children’s sacrifice, desires, and honesty.
D.R.
Ice Cube’s Predator
Gangster rap music has a negative “rap” in today’s society, and it has been that way from when it was first created. Although a lot of the blame can be contributed to various artists of the industry, they are still solid rappers out who in fact rap about a cause and look to change the situations they rap about in their songs. One of the many rappers who rap for a cause is Ice Cube, a MC out of Los Angeles, California. According to Gail H. Woldu in the book The Words and Music Of Ice Cube, “Cube’s album entitled Predator is [An] evocative social landscape of the most important issues confronting Ice Cube’s constituency—black urban dwellers—that illuminates racial tensions and police brutality in Los Angeles in the early 1990’s” (45). I will dig inside this album released by Ice Cube and shatter the stereotypes of the gangster rap genre, I will shed light as to what cultural traits shape the gangster rap subculture as a whole, as well as how politics play a part in the establishment of Cube’s music.
Jonathan Jaime
Interpreting Classical music and the Classical Period
Through the use of classical music, what seems today like an ancient type of music, the human senses are affected greatly for it gives listeners a sense of sadness, fear, anger, happiness, and just plain boredom. In the online article “From Emotion to Perception” published on Science Direct, psychologists conclude that the strongest emotions are only triggered by something if it is accompanied by music, not just by using a visual aspect (Baumgartner, Esslen, and Jacken). This type of music is extremely complex, which makes the audience more susceptible to different interpretations of the sounds and energy coming towards them, creating a plethora of feelings. Classical music is seen as the lost art of composers and artists like Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart, but it is still prominent today because it has broken through the barriers of high and low culture, affects most human senses, and represents an era that has almost been forgotten today.
Intro to Humanities, Room 222, Thurs. Dec. 6th
12:15 – 1: 25 will include the following:
Ashley Dvorak
Defining Modern Day Tattooing
In today’s society, many influential people including celebrities are tattooed; changing the stereotype from being something frowned upon to something more acceptable. Gay acknowledges, “During the 1960s and 1970s, rock-and-roll musicians, bikers, and others who wanted to defy accepted dress and cultural patterns began to prominently display their tattoos – or in their jargon, their “tats” or “ink.” Today people with tattoos are everywhere. They are shown in advertisements, on television shows, and in magazine and newspaper photographs. Even a glamorous toy icon, Barbie, comes with temporary tattoos.” Tattooing is very significant because it defies the normal stereotypes of marginality. Tattoos use the body to explore one’s aesthetics and there are an infinite amount of meanings and symbols behind tattoos. The images can vary from memorials of friends and family to religious and patriotic themes.
Paulina Priske
The Movement of Ideas
Bob Marley is meaningful because his songs have touched millions of lives with his constant message of peace, and also shaped the future of Jamaica. His music was a Reggae type of music, and he also helped with the formation of Rap and Rhythm, and Blues. In his opening lines of his songs he spoke about the history and the strength of his enslaved ancestors. Marley’s main focus was how he could unite people and create peace over his land. He once said, “My life is only important if mi cyan help plenty people. My life is for people. That’s who mi is.” This quote is very inspiring because it gives out a positive message to the meaning of his songs. Over time his music reached international fame, meaning not only was his music spread all over Jamaica but also around the world, which is very incredible. In John Rockwell’s article in The New York Times he states, “With his superb songs and arrangements, his rapt appearance and charismatic stage personality, Bob Marley and his group, the Wailers, won audiences for reggae all over the world, and influenced countless other musicians. Mr. Marley’s concerts were hours-long, almost mystical events, with whole arenas standing and swaying to the insinuating rhythms and reiterated chants of his songs.” Bob Marley had the ability to spread his influential message around the world and symbolizes the power to overcome stereotypes, break boundaries, and represent Jamaican culture and black pride.
Jami Renwick
The Evolution of Tattooing
Traditionally, tattoos were typically significant among gang members, biker boys, and tribal people, and were commonly viewed as a deviant, rebellious, and uncommon symbol. Tattooing has evolved over the years from being a deviant action to a form of self-expression that has become more acceptable in society. According to Margo DeMallo in her book Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo History, “In each stage of its artistic and social evolution, the tattoo itself has been redefined, moving from the mark of the primitive to a symbol of the explorer, a sign of patriotism and a mark of rebellion, to where it stands for many today, as a sign of status” (3). Tattooing is significant because it represents a form of aesthetic self-expression, no longer symbolizes youthful deviance, and expresses cultural, religious, or personal traits and values.
Mariah Bravo
The Day of the Dead: A Complex Hispanic Holiday
The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico and by people of Mexican heritage living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died. The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November in connection with the Catholic holy days of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, which take place on those days. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Observance of the holiday in Mexican-American communities in the United States has become more important and widespread as the community grows numerically and economically. In an online article, Palfrey believes, “Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl (known in English as “The Lady of the Dead”).” Similar holidays are celebrated in many parts of the world; for example, it is a public holiday in Brazil, where many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray to their loved ones who have died. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe and in the Philippines, and similarly-themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures. Needless to say, this amazing tradition has made its way all around the world. The day of the dead is a high culture holiday that significantly shapes human identity while preserving social order not only in the countries that it originated in but all over the world as well.
Kaley Castillo
The Mystery and Power of Zombies
In zombie films, humans struggle through economic and technological destruction, gender stereotypes, and relations between what is supposedly normal and what is supposedly abnormal. Online, Petsko says, “They come out of the night, shuffling towards us slowly, inexorably – pitiless, mindless and voracious. They care for nothing but their own continued existence. Unchecked, they will devour everything in their path.” Zombies take place of the human form but are completely the opposite, mentally and spiritually. They have no purpose on Earth but to bring chaos and destruction. Zombies do not have a mindset plan other than devouring any human flesh they see. In all zombie films, they act the same: vicious, out of control, and animalistic. The zombie films settings mostly partake in cities with large populations because it has more people that have a higher chance of becoming the infected. Zombie films, like Dawn of the Dead and Resident Evil have different types of zombies. In the new version of Dawn of the Dead the zombies run, and in Resident Evil the zombies not only run but also are intelligent and strong. The main character of Resident Evil is a woman named Alice, who is immune to some experiment taken on her. Alice’s abilities of strength and power are abnormal from regular humans. Yet, by being a woman, Alice symbolizes power and strength.
Jaime Soria Jr.
MS-13: A Subculture
The MS-13 gang is one of the most terrifying gang worldwide. The gang initially started in El Salvador then spread its violent ways onto Honduras, Mexico, and eventually America. According to McKenna on an online article, “The gang is notoriously violent, relentlessly cruel and merciless, with plenty of well-documented public crimes, such as a San Francisco member who killed a family for briefly blocking his car.” This quote shows how the new members will do anything for their gang. Since the beginning of organized crime, gangs are a significant part of America by offering violence and corruption to the community, promoting anarchy and differences between gangs causing conflicts on each other, and becoming a public tragedy to the young boys and girls. All gangs have their way of representing their gang from gang sings to decapitation of victims. Every gang has a rival like the Bloods and the Crips, but the gang MS-13 doesn’t just have one rival they believe that anyone who is not in the MS-13 mafia is a threat to the gang even civilians. Gangs affect the public terribly by sounding the public with violence and drugs. Children are an easy target of for the gangs. Gangs are like a virus they will destroy its surroundings and never go away. This gang is significant because it expresses the role of performance in a member’s everyday life, relations between the public and the private; conflicts between social and the personal, and reveals representations of groups, including stereotypes of gangs.
The Human Condition Seminar, Social Science, Room 118, Thurs. Dec. 6th
8:10-8:20 Guillermo Roa
The Sinner Priest in The Power and the Glory
Christians often struggle with how to live a spiritual life in a material world, yet life’s difficult questions can be answered through religion. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” suggests that some of the answers can help us achieve the spiritual life we crave the most. Plato describes the “cave” in which people are imprisoned and the “chains” that keep the prisoners from achieving enlightenment, or the spiritual life. For the Christian, the cave represents the world of materialistic things. In Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, the “whisky priest,” being a symbol of a truly spiritual person, struggles to live in a town where religion is banned, believing in the power of God and religion but struggling to overcome temptation and sin of the world. These struggles humanize the priest, or teach him what it means to live with sin. The Power and the Glory suggests that the truly spiritual figure must become humanized by living in the cave and learning how to bring others to enlightenment.
8:20-8:30 Kiara Allison
The Poisonwood Bible: The Demoralizing Effects of Colonialism
Generally, people are influenced by the authoritative figures around them. However, leaders that have ill intentions or imprudent ethics can manipulate their subordinates into accepting a false reality. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” puppeteers are leaders who cast shadows, or inaccurate depictions of life, to the manacled prisoners below. Similarly, Nathan Price, a character in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible, attempts to spread the Word of God to a Congolese village. His selfish ambition and misconception of the gospel cause pain and suffering for the natives as well as his family. Plato’s text offers an alternative to the “imprisoned natives” by illustrating that in order to attain enlightenment a prisoner must reject these shadows and, at the beckoning of a compeller, ascend out of the cave and into the light. Plato suggests that people must make the conscious decision to abandon their current state of ignorance and seek out truth. In the novel, Leah Price, Nathan’s daughter, recognizes his corruption and rejects his teachings, adopting the Congolese culture as her own and serving as a compeller for the inhabitants of the Congo. While Nathan represents the disparaging power of colonialism, Leah demonstrates how cultural and spiritual enlightenment can bring forth prosperity and enrichment.
8:30-8:40 Jairo Monasterio
Amores Perros: Love’s a Bitch
The cliché that love is blind is explored with director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu’s film, Amores Perros. The film shows how the characters are like the prisoners in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” where the prisoners are men chained to a cave in such a way where all they see are shadows. In the film, “love” is a driving force for each character, but the audience questions if love is just a shadow. Iñarritu’s film takes three different situations to show how love, as a Platonic “shadow,” can ruin lives.
8:40-8:50 Alan Troppy
C for Compeller
In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” there is a role present to those in the cave known as the compeller, or one who knows the Truth and is determined to enlighten others of their ignorance. This is an important role in a society that lacks the presence of critical thinkers and is a monumental role that needs to be filled. In the world there are many compellers who lose sight of enlightenment and good intentions; one example of this is the tragedy of 9/11. 9/11 was a horrific scene, and the leaders at the time were concerned that our nation was not invincible, but in the fear and lapse of judgment, they began to take away some of our freedoms rather than find another way to protect without limiting the people. This lapse of judgment is apparent in V for Vendetta through the character of the High Chancellor, Adam Sutler, who controls the people’s lives as to who they may worship, when they may go outside and what they can or cannot watch. V is the compeller that reveals the true nature of platonic enlightenment, freedom and the self-realization of their trapped state in the cave of oppression. His role as the compeller works to show that the entire government has lost sight of their enlightenment and good intentions. In the film V for Vendetta, we learn how to become a great Platonic compeller to those trapped in the “cave” that surrounds them.
8:50-9:00 Rowland Sauls
The King’s Speech: Finding One’s Voice
Psychologically, our flaws bring us down in the eyes of others and make us seem devalued to ourselves. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” helps its readers understand that to be enlightened and come out of the cave we inhabit, we must neglect the opinions of others, known as puppeteers, put faith in ourselves through listening to compellers, and eventually move past our flaws to be enlightened. Enlightenment leads us to be the best we can be by compelling others and helping other humans. The 2010 film, The King’s Speech, tells the story of how King George VI dealt with his own flaws, specifically his speech impediment, and how he let it affect his self-worth by listening to his puppeteers, who tested his ability to be a great leader through World War II. However, his compellers help him realize his self-worth by encouraging him to overcome his flaws, giving him not only self-actualization, but also ascension from the platonic cave of depreciation he was previously in. The King’s Speech shows its audience that our flaws chain us to believe the false reality that our flaws make us failures, preventing us from being the persons that we need to be, want to be, and are obliged to be.
9:00-9:10 Marshall Schmitt
1984: A Dangerous Concoction of Enlightenment and Power
For Americans, freedom has been an important aspect of life from the earliest stages. It has been inscribed on our hearts and engraved in our minds that we have the freedom to pursue whichever truth we like. The outcome, it is suggested, is often determined by how hard we work and ultimately how much money we obtain. Plato demonstrates another progression of finding truth in his “Allegory of the Cave.” In this theory, prisoners are chained and must realize their situation in order to free themselves, or be compelled to the surface, in order to grasp the full truth. Afterwards, they should go back in the cave to compel the others. In George Orwell’s novel 1984, a grim alternative is faced wherein those who have been enlightened have become corrupted in their rule over the common people and have exploited those people to perpetuate their power and rule. Orwell’s novel demonstrates the perils of leadership when faced with a dangerous concoction of enlightenment and power. This ultimately causes the leaders to use their enlightenment as a tool for exploitation and control rather than enlightenment, protection and education of the common man. Functioning as warning to the world about this kind of society and how the totalitarian ideas have already taken hold today, the novel shows that we must question everything to preserve our freedom.
9:10-9:20 Maggie Ferraro
9:20-9:30 Break
9:30-9:40 Saul Blair
Fifty Shades of Plato
Fifty Shades of Grey relates the story of a young, awkward female college graduate who enters into a socially-taboo relationship with a young, attractive, and cryptic CEO. This Cinderella-style relationship escalates to physical levels that conventional societal values and norms abhor. With the popularity of this book, curiosity about women’s desires and the evolution of society’s acceptance of sexually explicit material is rising to previously unknown heights. Dubbed “mommy porn,” this novel piques the interest of even disinterested readers regarding its value by asking why society has eschewed such relationships publicly yet reveled in this book. This novel lauds the words and phrases that depict what society has condemned in photography and film, and still many women embrace this novel as liberating. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” uses shadows to convey the obstacles that prevent enlightenment for those who are captivated by the false images that these shadows project. Fifty Shades of Grey challenges traditional views on sex and relationships by revealing that a Cinderella-type shadow will ultimately lead back into the same old repressive “cave” women have come to scorn.
9:40-9:50 Zachary Orth
No Country for Old Men: Killing Them Socratically
In modern society, the importance placed on money is stronger than ever. The presidential debates of 2012 were focused nearly completely on money, from the national debt to cutting funding for the Public Broadcasting System. The greed of today’s world is similar to what Plato points out in “Allegory of the Cave” when he describes the unenlightened leaders that bicker over money and power. In the novel, No Country for Old Men, a sociopath, Chigurh, is driven by a duty to make people accountable for their transgressions and life choices, especially when they place more importance on money than humanity. In their moments of enlightenment, Chigurh kills his victims, preserving their enlightened state. In No Country for Old Men, the character of Chigurh serves as a compeller who brings to light the dangers people face when they serve their own self-interest.
9:50-10:00 Catherine Wood
Mona Lisa Smile:Finding Freedom in a Girdle
For a woman in the mid-twentieth century, wearing a girdle meant pain and limited mobility, but at the same time it meant poise and elegance. It was something that a woman during that time could not go without due to gender expectations. With Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” audiences realize that in the 1950s, gender roles, like girdles, were “chains” that held the women of the time back, especially the women who had the potential to get an education. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine Watson, a liberal teacher from California, shows a group of women how to break those chains and achieve their education. Most of the students do not find the enlightenment that Ms. Watson wants for the conservative Wellesley College. However, the film offers limited examples of women who discover that enlightenment through education provides a small measure of freedom in their restricted state. Mona Lisa Smile shows that women should cast aside the “chains” of gender expectations in order to gain fulfillment.
The Baytown Folklore League! 