Children's Media Response: #3

Looking at some of our media examples from class and from the assigned homework readings/videos, I feel as if I understand fairly well what the inquiry topic means in regards to children's media.  I have a good grasp on what that is and what it does.  A child is a new human: someone who is venturing into an entirely new planet.  They are curious, they are wild, they are students of every facet of life.  This leads to a need that their developing minds have.  They must try to understand what is around them.  I feel that there are many different ways in which they can learn--and media in its various forms is just one of them, but a very effective one.

The They Might Be Giants album about science is a really nice example of a healthy and fun piece of entertainment to expose a child to.  It utilizes animation and absurdity and catchy tunes to get some complicated or confusing information out.  I would say that even as an adult, I still learned a new thing in every song.  The videos and songs were informative and creative and varied in topics enough to keep the journey fun and stimulating.  This is something that is important for children, who tend to have shorter attention spans.  The videos are short and fun enough to keep them engaged. Not only that, but they are still promoting good ideologies and ideas.  They are still prompting kids to be nice to the environment by driving an electric car, or to be nice to animals who provide us with many resources.  

We talked for a second in class about some hidden ideologies in different things that children engage with, and I stand by those ideologies not only being present but as being active and playing an active role in the developing minds.  Kids are way smarter than they get credit for.  Especially because they are students, they are watching carefully.  Children are eager to understand and eager to learn.  They see something, and while they may lack some of the analytical tools that adults have, they still analyze in their own ways.  A kid can still watch Pinocchio and come away from it with the knowledge that bad decisions = bad consequences, and they can still come away from the science music videos and know that an electric car is better than a gas car.  They are understanding, and they don't want you to baby them.  

That's a big part of being a kid--is knowing that you are one.  People tell you all the time and overtly leave you out of discussions or dismiss you because you are young and small.  And they are right. You're not ready to watch Star Wars yet, or you shouldn't watch a bunch of people kiss.  But sometimes what you want is to be treated like a real person.  It's a strange line to walk, and I don't really know why I'm talking about this, but it seemed relevant this week. 

Children's Media Response: #2

The film Pinocchio stands as one of my earliest memories of interacting with cinema as a child.  It is, personally, one of my absolute favorite children's films.  One thing that has been a consistent awe to me in this class so far is how different the take-aways are in adulthood when compared to childhood.  As a kid, and this is my current mind scraping the barrel for remembrances of what my child brain thought, this film was a colorful, light-hearted journey with a puppet.  It's strange to watch the film now and not only re-live the things I felt as a kid but to experience something different altogether.

The morality side of children's media is something that has always existed.  Our readings focused on the origins of fairy tales and different versions of one tale and how each presented their own ideologies.  I believe that the didacticism of children's media is something that it kind of has to have.  Where Son of Rambow lacked a bit of strong moral themes, it did still teach some sort of lesson about creativity and the importance of understanding within family members.

Pinocchio, on the other hand, teaches distinct and clear morals about right and wrong.  It tells the child in big bold letters: DON'T DO THIS, and DO THIS.  There are direct consequences and they are terrible and horrible.  As a kid, the image that had been burned onto my brain was the one of a boy turning into a donkey.  That fear of turning into a donkey if I did anything wrong remained with me for longer than it should have.  So one tactic that Pinocchio seems to take on is a sort of 'scared straight' one.  This was, and is, extremely effective.  Even watching the film now, as an adult, it remains a terrifying image and event.  I like that the film is able to elicit that same response in adults and children.

I know I mentioned before that the experience as a child can be different than the experience as an adult might have while watching a film.  The thing that is remarkable about Pinocchio is that I feel like the experience was mostly the same.  I got the same messages from the film when I was a kid as I did just last week.  The difference is that now, as an adult, I understand the apparatus.  I can see what's at work and how.  As a kid, all you take in is the sequence of events and the emotions you're left with.  You  still understand, you still make meaning, you are just unaware of how.

That's kind of important, I think.

Children's Media: Response #1

Taking into consideration our discussion in class, I'm left with a sort of blurry and upsettingly more complex idea as to what childhood is and what the term "Children's Media" refers to.  I've always been proud of my love for children's films and have used that love and devotion to the genre as a signifier of my "extensive" knowledge on the subject as well. I'm now sitting here questioning what I thought, and am excited for what I might learn.

Benjamin gave us three categories to consider:
1. Media For Children
2. Media About Childhood
3. Media That Children Consume

I was left trying to understand what to define as a child, and what to define as appropriate.  Many of us brought up good points about ethics and content and intent, and all of them seemed to propose a new thing that would complicate my former ideas about each subject.  You could lump all movies that seem to be aimed at children into the category of "children's media" but what about the films that are subtly or even explicitly just about childhood?  Shouldn't a film that deals overtly with themes about growing up and the mindset of being a child be a child's right to watch?  Examples of this that pop into my mind are films like Finding Neverland (2004), Boyhood (2014), or even Ivan's Childhood (1962).  You could make the argument that Finding Neverland, a film that talks about childhood and depicts it quite beautifully is a piece of children's media quite easily; however, something like Boyhood or Ivan's Childhood is more complicated in the sense that content and disturbing imagery and themes get in the way of it being appropriate for a child.  So that category gets complicated.  Perhaps not ever film that discusses childhood is for a child, but children should still be exposed to media that is about them and the things they go through.

The film we watched in class, Son of Rambow (2007) is a wonderfully imaginative and full of heart film that definitely is a piece of media that I find hard to define.  It deals with issues about being a kid and being in a world of kids.  The adults are distant and hard to understand and villainized for the most part.  This, I've found to be a common thread in a lot of films for children--the adults are misunderstood or presented as antagonists (hinting at an underlying ideology within children's minds).  The film represents the imagination and freedom in children as uber-important and, essentially, the thing that must be saved in children.  The main character, Will, is seen being stifled creatively in his family and his religion, and must find a way to break out of that or help others see the importance of the special world he lives in.  A common thread here also lies with his mother, who we see in a flashback being stifled creatively by her own parents.

There are definitely themes in the film that are aimed at parents in re: understanding your children, and also at children in re: being a kid and dealing with the issues that go along with that.  I would define it as a piece of children's media in the sense that it is a film that is for a kid, could be consumed by a kid, and deals with being a kid.  However, it is also something that could be argued to be aimed at adults as well, as I read and interpreted the film to be a message to adults about what we've lost, or what we're doing wrong.

I could go on forever about this topic, but I want to end on this specific note: children's media is a complex and beautiful genre within filmmaking.  Isn't it special that there are things that appeal to almost every single person on Earth, regardless of their intelligence level or comprehension?  Isn't is really unique that a film can give one adult a certain message and one child a different one?  I've found in my experience that children are incredibly smart and wise beings, and they deserve all media that is SMART and doesn't treat them like idiots.  Children should not be talked down to, they should be challenged.  Because they can handle it, and some of them want it and seek it out.  There are children out there that deserve beautiful and magical and special art to consume, and that is the children's media that stands out.

Concerned Citizen

We went into this interview without a project -- or at least without a "cause" -- but instead we had a person we wanted to focus on.  Relying less on the "institution" and more on the intrinsic values or beliefs that one person -- Jesse Baird -- actually had allowed us to get to the meat of a problem he actually cared about instead of a cookie cutter "mission."  In fact we tried to prompt Jesse to talk about various topics that we thought might provoke a discussion (politics, abortion, feminism, female circumcision, etc.) but sometimes smaller issues take precedent over these universal issues and can provide a basis to build up to them.  Jesse's thoughtful critique of passivity in societal interactions relating to harmful behaviors actually does address sexism, racism, homophobia, rape culture, etc. but not in the rah-rah grandiose Big Topic way that we are used to in confrontational social settings.

Furthermore, our aim was to capture the actual essence of what Jesse cares about and finds valuable just by himself.  Our project is about how not everyone has to be the director of a food bank or spend their Saturdays volunteering at a soup kitchen to be an activist.  Jesse, in his everyday interactions with other people, stands up for a cause that isn't getting enough attention from media, politics, society, etc.  Moreover, not everybody has the societal influence to start their own campaign or charity, and not everyone has the opportunity or time to make a drastic global change. Thus, it's the everyday, human interactions that can actually start the ball rolling toward social evolution and away from antiquated paradigms of bigotry and injustice.

As for outside media, we referenced home videos to capture a more realistic aesthetic instead of a clinical and polished experience.  In home videos, you get the unedited truth and probably gratuitous material -- like Jesse on the broomstick and screwing around with a camera -- even though not all parts of those instances relate directly to the cause, they still relate to the individual.

Goldbard makes an statement claiming that "encroaching on the old paradigm, knowledge from many different spheres reveals how cul- ture is key to creating the conditions that enable human rights and therefore, security rooted in caring rather than coercion."  Jesse's project is not to be the next President of the United States and change the world that way, instead he just wants to add to the conversation to create "the conditions that enable human rights" and it's as simple as that.  

World Creating

Welcome to FLEA.

Population: 600 Billion


Year: 3209 A.D.

Swine Flu wiped out the human race in the year 2075.  After disrupting the life cycle of Earth, the only species that was self-sufficient enough to survive were the genus musmusculus (MICE).  After years of research, we come to the year 3209 where they have developed synthetic human bodies that they use as vessels to carry out every day processes more effectively and efficiently.

They do so while wearing visors.

They are: Mice In Visors ™.

They work together in cubicles within the pseudo-human skull.  Each body contains about 10 mice working together to control the central nervous system.

The mice use these bodies to do everyday life things that they had observed back when humans roamed the earth.  But despite their strides to be as human as possible, they still only care about one thing: obtaining food.

And so, in order to get food, they use items that they believed were desirable and beneficial to humans when they existed.  Things such as: uncharged iPhones, tampons, cigarette butts, etc.  These are all items that they saw humans interact with frequently, and therefore are thought to be important for trade.

The mice also can't seem to shake their animalistic desires like cheese and being warm, comfortable, and safe.  So these things are in abundance in their world: furniture resembles cheese, they wear a lot of sweaters and their houses are covered in fur.

The mice have a tacit agreement as to who is in charge.  So there is no government, they all just know what their place is in life, and stick it through.  This makes for a very peaceful world, and within the body they all work together to create a single mechanism.  

Artist Statement:

In the initial stages of conceptualization, the only thing we knew about this world was that mice were sort of like overlords. When we started considering what was and was not realistic, mouse overlords couldn’t possibly run Earth because of their general smallness and lack of know-how. But mice inside human bodies would be unstoppable. I literally cannot think of a single thing more powerful and sensual than a mouse in a human body. So we thought about how cunning mice would overcome their fragility to ultimately survive. The solution was relatively simple: of course mice would figure out robotics and put together realistic human host bodies so that they could thrive in the harsh conditions of a post-apocalyptic, humanless world. With their newfound access to things like Opposable Thumbs™ and legs long enough to reach the pedals in Cadillac Escalades, etc., mice could finally do all the things that they envied about human life, including (but not limited to): skateboarding, hot-tubbing, drinking beer, cat-calling at babes (RIP), flippin’ burgers at the local Five Guys, smoking weed, etc. Mice could do it all AND MORE!  

For outside media, we took the sort of obvious route and referred to the Pixar movie, Ratatouille. In the film, one rat figures out a way to control a human’s body by sitting on top of his head and pulling his hair (science?). Instead of this charming, albeit unrealistic approach to rodent/human control interactions, we decided to capitalize on a more pragmatic version of the same principle. Thus, mice would inhabit cold, humanoid shells that they themselves had crafted in their rodent laboratories, and they would have to work together inside the

After researching mice and their typical way of living, we began to see just how crazy a world controlled by mice might be. By finding their unusual habits, we realized just how different the society would be. For example, Mice prefer dark, and they do have their own type of “classes” among them. With just these two details, you would have a world in the dark and a new Anarchy system. Even the littlest changes could cause the most dramatic difference in a world.

From the reading Julian Bleeker said, “Design fiction is a way of exploring different approaches to making things, probing the material conclusions of your imagination, removing the usual constraints when designing for massive market commercialization.” This quote indeed expressed the different ways to approach in making a new world. We tried to figure out what one small detail would do to the rest of the world. For one thing, furniture would look like pieces of cheese. Cheese became the new barter system, which in millions of ways changes the world. We then had to approach a world that functioned without money, but instead cheese. How would this world actually function?

It was an interesting experience in trying to create a world that would actually function. In the end it brought many new ideas and pieces to the creative table.

Textual Poaching

Link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8fCvlwgBI

The aspect of my identity that I chose to focus on for this week's assignment is my Indian heritage.  This is a part of me that I have always been at war with, because I was raised in the United States with little to no Indian influence.  While I am only half, I still consider myself to be (at least partially) a part of that culture.  And for a good part of my life, I didn't really realize what that meant.  I didn't understand that my dad was different than my mom, or that I was different from Blue Eyed Blonde Haired Suzie.  I was just like everyone else.  And then one day I wasn't.

I took inspiration for this through the film Slumdog Millionaire, because I loved the representation of the rural peoples in that film, and was hoping to find a similar atmosphere.  So with this in mind, I gathered a lot of different footage of Indian women off youtube, because I have always been fascinated by the culture surrounding women in India.  My dad has told me stories of his mother and how she was sold to marriage by her brother because she wanted to be a Bollywood movie star.  She is one of many repressed and silenced women of India, and I absolutely love the way that despite their circumstances they are so strong and proud and beautiful.  And then I found a video of a leopard attacking a bunch of Indian villagers that I thought really represented the way that I sort of fought with my own identity for a while.  The leopard lashes out because it is scared, because it is threatened.  And that last shot of it cowering behind a wall, and all you can see are they eyes, is very beautiful to me and means a lot.  So then, with these video clips, I recorded my father rambling and paired it with the video clips, which I think juxtaposes and correlates with the videos.  This in itself is a representation of my two different cultures in me.

I think the ultimate product turned out okay.  The overall message I wanted to get across with the video is that I love both sides of me, even though it is inconvenient.  The beauty is shown in the beginning, and the hardship is shown at the end.  And even though these two sides of me have given me grief, I love them both.  And I am happy for both.  And there are some days when I wish I was either just one or neither, I do love what I am made of.  The reading on the Velveteen rabbit really put things in perspective, especially when it talks about what makes something Real.  And I think that in my case, being real is accepting all the warring attributes in ones life.  Being real means being discriminated, it means being cheated and loved and lied to and cherished.  It means knowing who you are and not wanting to change.

Music Mosaic

Song: Sea, Swallow Me by Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd

The song I have selected for my music mosaic project is a song from the 80's from a band called Cocteau Twins.  The song starts off with a broken chord from a piano synth and then the drums and other synths come in.  It has a ethereal quality to it; the feel and atmosphere is a kind of dream-like and seems to capture the way the water moves.  Listening to the song almost makes you feel as if you are floating in the middle of the ocean, or watching your body float away.  The reverb carries you away from whatever you are feeling or thinking, and all there is is the echo of the synth and Elizabeth Fraser's non-sensical vocals.  It is a very pretty song, yet it almost has a dark feeling to it.  If you are watching yourself float away in the middle of the ocean, there is a melancholy and depressive connotation.  The song is beautiful, but beauty is not happy.

I took inspiration from photographer Kyle Thompson, who often uses water in his photographs.  He has many photos that depict the act of drowning or being captured by water.  His photography is very pensive and dark, and I wanted to capture that essence in my photos to show the same kind of angst and drama that he captures.  

I decided that the best way to capture the dark beauty of the song would be to take clay and paint and create the ocean on something beautiful.  The clay and paint taint the fair skin of the subject, and shows the contrast the way the song does.  It is deceivingly pretty, but there is that extra something that sticks out and is memorable, that extra darkness.  The colors are blues and blacks to represent the deep hues of the ocean.  The texture of the clay is rough and broken and cracked, almost like tree bark, to show the harshness of the ocean.  It is growing over her, taking over her life slowly, just as water would your lungs.  The red lines then come in, representing blood, showing the harm that is slowly creeping into focus.  Together, the cracks and the colors and the texture come together to show a physical representation as to how the water is taking her under.