Week 8

When I'm eating, I don't really stop and think about where my food comes from. The first time I had really considered it, was because I had seen a comical, political picture referencing it. Even so, I didn't really know the business behind our food, or about the living conditions of the workers. I was pretty shocked to see that, at such a low wage, it took five years of peaceful protest for the workers to get the chance to discuss improved wages with their employers. I understand that minimum wages were lower in 1965 than they are today, and things were cheaper and that the weight of the dollar has changed, and so on. Even so, the workers had to endure harsh working conditions in order to receive their pay, and it seems unfair that they had to do so much to get the attention and respect they had wanted from the growers.

King Corn

I have spent a good part of my life living in other countries, and often around farms. So it was mildly surprising to see how different most American farms are from what I'm used to. I hadn't really seen just how bad the conditions were. However, it's also not surprising in a way. Comparing the quality of food among these countries, the meat you can buy elsewhere tastes completely different from what you get here. Now that I know what makes it different, I'm rather glad I don't buy many meat products here in the US. However, I feel that the amount of corn that is present in other products I buy and eat easily makes up for what I miss in beef. Although the commercials advertise corn syrup as a substitute for sugar, and say that our bodies can't tell the difference, I'm pretty sure something so completely artificial has a negative effect on our bodies and our lives.

Week 6 - My Revolutions

A line that stuck with me was when Chris wondered if an act still had significance if it was not reported on and no one knew about it. They had just blown up a building, yet the news was not reporting it. Their struggle reflected mediacracy because they began evaluating their success by how much media coverage they received. This can be contrasted with one of Chris's experiences towards the beginning of the book; when Chris is at a rally, he gets frustrated with  a news reporter who was only interested in hearing certain things out of the protesters. He is also relatively scornful of Miles when he first meets him. As he starts to feel that his old methods of protest are ineffective, he also begins to believe in the necessity of media to bring about changes in the government. Thus, unless their struggles are documented, unless there are media crews surrounding their every action, they feel as if they've failed.

Week 5

In the movie, The Most Dangerous Man in America, the character Dan Ellsberg experiences several epiphanies. One of these epiphanies occurs when he visits Vietnam during the war. He sees how nothing has changed or been accomplished since the war began, and comments to McNamara that he is shocked about the state of things. McNamara agrees with him, and says that everything is very much the same as it was. However, when McNamara gets back to the States, he tells everyone about the "progress|" he saw in Vietnam.
The biggest epiphany for Dan happens when he watches a man get arrested for believing in ending the war. He believed that the greatest thing he could do for his country was to get arrested. Ellsberg described the experience as an axe cutting his life in half. After this epiphany, he decides to leak the Pentagon Papers and openly protest the Vietnam War.

Week 4 - My Revolutions

Thus far in My Revolutions, we see Mike Frame reflecting on his old life as Chris Carver, and trying to figure out what to do about the reemergence of past acquaintances in his new world. After he sees a woman resembling Anna in France, and after meeting Miles again, he finds himself forced to stop running from the past and start trying to figure out how he can live with what has happened. A scene that really demonstrates this is when Miles shows up at his house and tells his step-daughter that he never used to be very clean cut. Before this, we are told that Sam even thinks that Mike has only ever been with Miranda. She had previously thought that his past consisted mainly of living at the monastery.
We also see his revolutionary attitude develop as he meets new people and gets involved with new organizations. Although he seems to been knowledgeable about what he is fighting for, he seems easily swayed into new thought processes and new revolutions. He especially seemed swayed by the women he has admired throughout his life, and seems to simply want to be a part of these womens' lives.

Arresting a Symbol

In Bolivar Yo Soy, the character Santiago took up the identity and image of Bolivar, and wanted to bring about change to Colombia. Throughout the movie, you see police officers and government officials trying to stop Santiago. However, they all show hesitance to kill or arrest Santiago, even though they believe he is an actor who has gotten too into his role.
I have seen several movies at this point that showcase a similar phenomenon; a regular person becomes tired of the way the world works, and seeks to change it by becoming part of a symbol or icon. Officials always try to stop them, but finding a proper way to stop them becomes tricky. There are a couple reasons why arresting or killing an icon is a bad idea.
A symbol is created because it has meaning within a group of people. A symbol such as Bolivar was held as important among the people of Colombia. In the movie, it is also apparent that the President used Bolivar the symbol to gain popularity among the people. If he had arrested Bolivar/Santiago, it could be assumed that the President has no regard for the Colombians' beliefs. Also, if he had moved people to believe in his cause, there would be people who would rise up and take his place. This is demonstrated in the rebel forces that later "help" Santiago. They believe in the real Bolivar's cause, and try to finish what he started, even though it is more violent than what Santiago would like.

Week 2 - Network

For me, the main points of Network were summed up in the final argument between Diana and Max. They have an argument about the way their "script" is going, and Max ends up moving out to try and reconcile with his wife. I think his explanation to her about her life fits perfectly what these network TV shows do to people. He tells her that everything she touches becomes corrupt and dies, and that she can't just take the parts of him that she wants and throw out the rest. She is television personified.
You can see her changing the things she touches by what she does to the TV shows she creates.When Diana wants to put the rebel group on a TV, you see them becoming pawns of the network. They adjust to meet her ideas of what sells, and even go as far as to carry out an assassination at her bidding, using a ratings boost as an excuse. The moment a show stops earning high ratings for her, she eliminates that show by any means possible.

Week 1

Revolutionary change is more desperately urgent than ever, but we do not know any more what revolution means.
-John Holloway

This week in class, the topic of "revolution" was discussed. Before the term itself was defined, we saw how revolution was conveyed in the media. These days everything from ball-point pens to cars seems to have been described as "revolutionary". Through the media, it has become steadily apparent that we have lost a true concept of what revolution actually means.
I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but I did hear a few excerpts from the Golden Globes while I was cooking dinner tonight. Oddly enough, I overheard someone talking about revolution; a TV actor was talking about what to expect on the new season of a program he stars in. He said that some of the topics covered on the show would be "revolutionary".
Previously I would have ignored this kind of statement; after all, I don't have much interest in TV, save for a few shows. However, I was reminded of how we had defined revolution. For purposes of discussion, a definition we used was that revolution is a sudden wrenching of people out of their accustomed patterns of seeing and believing. I found it interesting to think about, whether or not a music TV show about high school could actually be as revolutionary as the actor seemed to believe, or if this was another case of the media romanticizing revolution.