People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
Another movie we are currently watching in class is called, "Pump-up the Volume" made in the 1990's by New Line Cinema and S. C. Entertainment. In this film there is a teenage boy who has a pirate radio broadcast in which he presents an illegal talk show. On the radio he goes by "Hard on Harry" and tells his listeners what he beleives is the truth about life and the world they live in. He talks about his day and all the things adults, parents, and teachers expect from teens such as themselves. His first statement on his radio show goes something like this: "Everything in America is completely fucked up...violent...schools, government, environment" everything is corrupt. He also says to "eat ceral with a fork and do you homework in the dark." He offers the marginal thought(s) and message(s) on how someone could live thier life. On his radio show he, in a free-form way, informs and educates the teenagers in this "sleepy town" about life behond school; the lives they are living. "HoH" says that the "life" everyone expects, the good and meaningful life, is to "get happy, get a girlfriend and write a best seller." That is the equivlent of living in the suburbs married with kids; in a big house with a white picket fense. It is the "life" being presented by coporate culture in thier society. "Life of a teenager...you have parents and teachers telling you what to do, movies and magazines and t.v. telling you what to do, but you know what you need to do, purpose in life, get a cute girlfrned and think of something great to do." "Suicide→ the uncomplicated, simple solution." "At least the pain is real." Unlike most things in life, feeling some sort of emotion, like pain, is proof that there is some real aspect to life.
HoH has a solution to teen problems, NOT to go out and kill yourself, but instead he says to "do something crazy, go nuts, get crazy!"
Dec 22, 2008
Dec 10, 2008
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
Another movie we are currently watching in class is called, "Pump-up the Volume" made in the 1990's by New Line Cinema and S. C. Entertainment. In this film there is a teenage boy who has a pirate radio broadcast in which he presents an illegal talk show. On the radio he goes by "Hard on Harry" and tells his listeners what he beleives is the truth about life and the world they live in. He talks about his day and all the things adults, parents, and teachers expect from teens such as themselves. "Everything in America is completely fucked up...violent...schools, government, environment" everything is corrupt. He also says to "eat ceral with a fork and do you homework in the dark." On his radio show he, in a free-form way, informs and educates the teenagers in this "sleepy town" about life behond school; the lives they are living.
Ideas that could be expanded:
Black Friday → Buy Nothing Day → we buy so much, we waste so much → why do we keep doig this to the world?
Its all about the ratio of pressure. People are followers, for example, if 6/10 girls are for the idea of "getting a tattoo is cool", the chances are other girls will also start to think tattoos are cool because they want to do what the other girls are doing. You can't expect people to go against the ratio of pressure. Every culture has a ratio of pressure.
Outside of a Walmart in Long Island a crowd about about 2,000 people bum-rushed the doors at 5am → a man died → it is a primal way of living → "humans are savages."
Excessive consumerism → result in the future → our economy gets worse
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
Another movie we are currently watching in class is called, "Pump-up the Volume" made in the 1990's by New Line Cinema and S. C. Entertainment. In this film there is a teenage boy who has a pirate radio broadcast in which he presents an illegal talk show. On the radio he goes by "Hard on Harry" and tells his listeners what he beleives is the truth about life and the world they live in. He talks about his day and all the things adults, parents, and teachers expect from teens such as themselves. "Everything in America is completely fucked up...violent...schools, government, environment" everything is corrupt. He also says to "eat ceral with a fork and do you homework in the dark." On his radio show he, in a free-form way, informs and educates the teenagers in this "sleepy town" about life behond school; the lives they are living.
Ideas that could be expanded:
Black Friday → Buy Nothing Day → we buy so much, we waste so much → why do we keep doig this to the world?
Its all about the ratio of pressure. People are followers, for example, if 6/10 girls are for the idea of "getting a tattoo is cool", the chances are other girls will also start to think tattoos are cool because they want to do what the other girls are doing. You can't expect people to go against the ratio of pressure. Every culture has a ratio of pressure.
Outside of a Walmart in Long Island a crowd about about 2,000 people bum-rushed the doors at 5am → a man died → it is a primal way of living → "humans are savages."
Excessive consumerism → result in the future → our economy gets worse
Dec 2, 2008
What Do People See as a Good and Meaningful life? (Thanksgiving & Buy Nothing Day added)
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Ideas to expand upon:
Black Friday → Buy Nothing Day → we buy so much, we waste so much → why do we keep doig this to the world?
Its all about the ratio of pressure. People are followers, for example, if 6/10 girls are for the idea of "getting a tattoo is cool", the chances are other girls will also start to think tattoos are cool because they want to do what the other girls are doing. You can't expect people to go against the ratio of pressure. Every culture has a ratio of pressure.
Outside of a Walmart in Long Island a crowd about about 2,000 people bum-rushed the doors at 5am → a man died → it is a primal way of living → "humans are savages."
Excessive consumerism → result in the future → our economy gets worse
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Ideas to expand upon:
Black Friday → Buy Nothing Day → we buy so much, we waste so much → why do we keep doig this to the world?
Its all about the ratio of pressure. People are followers, for example, if 6/10 girls are for the idea of "getting a tattoo is cool", the chances are other girls will also start to think tattoos are cool because they want to do what the other girls are doing. You can't expect people to go against the ratio of pressure. Every culture has a ratio of pressure.
Outside of a Walmart in Long Island a crowd about about 2,000 people bum-rushed the doors at 5am → a man died → it is a primal way of living → "humans are savages."
Excessive consumerism → result in the future → our economy gets worse
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl.
Black Friday, also known as "Buy nothing day," has become part of coporoate
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl.
Black Friday, also known as "Buy nothing day," has become part of coporoate
Nov 30, 2008
What Do People See as a Good and Meaningful life? (updated)
What do people see as a good and meaningful life?
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl.
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl.
Nov 29, 2008
What Do People See as a Good and Meaningful life?
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Next thoughts:
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted....
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
Next thoughts:
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted....
Nov 9, 2008
What Do People See as a Good and Meaningful life?
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
Nov 5, 2008
What About this 2008 Election...?
Well my initial thoughts on this election were...
-Obama clearly had a strong influence on Democrats and even some republicans
-McCain really on spent his advertising on bashing Obama and didn't really state his plan of action as the new President of the United States, which made be skeptical of him, what was he planning on doing to help us?
-Obama's infomercial was dedicated towards stating his plan of action if he were to become president, along with foot notes stating each point-it made me feel reassured that we wanted to let his public audience know what to expect from him
-It was a close race, I know there are a lot of republican states, but Obama had a huge group of "followers"
Overall I was not too surprised by the result, it was pretty obvious that Barack Obama had an incredible lead that would leave John McCain in the dust. (according to the polls online and on tv)
Although there was one thought that kept running through my head, which were: What if Obama did not win and by some freak "accident" McCain did? What would it be like with another republican (who is said to be like George Bush) as our next president for 4 years...I would not know what to think, frankly, I would be disappointed and would hope for the best from McCain. But I am ready for a change and now we've got one, Barack Obama our 44th President of the United States of America.
I know that it will be very hard for Barak Obama to change the United States and repair all the damaged caused by bad decisions in the past few years while "under republican power" but I have faith in him. As Andy stated, "he is strategically brilliant and emotionally sophisticated, and sane person to ever run for president" and become president.
Maybe some minor things will change but I won't expect anything huge. It will also require the people of America to pitch in and help out, we are part of the problem and it is our country so we must do our part to help "clean-up." But how? Will Obama tell us, Americans, what we need to do to help make this change? Will this work? Will change happen, or have we fallen too far?
-Obama clearly had a strong influence on Democrats and even some republicans
-McCain really on spent his advertising on bashing Obama and didn't really state his plan of action as the new President of the United States, which made be skeptical of him, what was he planning on doing to help us?
-Obama's infomercial was dedicated towards stating his plan of action if he were to become president, along with foot notes stating each point-it made me feel reassured that we wanted to let his public audience know what to expect from him
-It was a close race, I know there are a lot of republican states, but Obama had a huge group of "followers"
Overall I was not too surprised by the result, it was pretty obvious that Barack Obama had an incredible lead that would leave John McCain in the dust. (according to the polls online and on tv)
Although there was one thought that kept running through my head, which were: What if Obama did not win and by some freak "accident" McCain did? What would it be like with another republican (who is said to be like George Bush) as our next president for 4 years...I would not know what to think, frankly, I would be disappointed and would hope for the best from McCain. But I am ready for a change and now we've got one, Barack Obama our 44th President of the United States of America.
I know that it will be very hard for Barak Obama to change the United States and repair all the damaged caused by bad decisions in the past few years while "under republican power" but I have faith in him. As Andy stated, "he is strategically brilliant and emotionally sophisticated, and sane person to ever run for president" and become president.
Maybe some minor things will change but I won't expect anything huge. It will also require the people of America to pitch in and help out, we are part of the problem and it is our country so we must do our part to help "clean-up." But how? Will Obama tell us, Americans, what we need to do to help make this change? Will this work? Will change happen, or have we fallen too far?
Oct 30, 2008
10/30/08
What do people see as a good and meaningful life?
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” or “meaningful” life. My definition of a good and meaningful life is a combination of what I believe without any influence from society and along with the millions and billions of people, who watch television, listen to music, etc.
Without thinking of the influence the media has on me, I personally believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. But unfortunately that is not always true, when I watch television, or listen to music I am being told that living a good life is being successful and rich, or finding true love.
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” or “meaningful” life. My definition of a good and meaningful life is a combination of what I believe without any influence from society and along with the millions and billions of people, who watch television, listen to music, etc.
Without thinking of the influence the media has on me, I personally believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. But unfortunately that is not always true, when I watch television, or listen to music I am being told that living a good life is being successful and rich, or finding true love.
comment on http://whereintheworldisntcarmensandiego.blogspot.com/
Hi,
Reading over your analysis of "Good Life" I completely agree with you in #1, it was overly apparent that a "good life" is being rich and successful (along with attracting sexy woman). But while watching the video I also thought that having a good life was going from poor to rich, "rags to riches." (just a thought)
I'm a bit confused when you say the video supports and disagrees with the underlying message of the song in #3. So in the music video the pictures show the items that one needs to have a good life, but I thought that this message went along with the one about having money and being successful. Maybe I'm confused. But overall I really enjoyed reading your analysis of "Good Life," it was really insightful and well thought out.
Reading over your analysis of "Good Life" I completely agree with you in #1, it was overly apparent that a "good life" is being rich and successful (along with attracting sexy woman). But while watching the video I also thought that having a good life was going from poor to rich, "rags to riches." (just a thought)
I'm a bit confused when you say the video supports and disagrees with the underlying message of the song in #3. So in the music video the pictures show the items that one needs to have a good life, but I thought that this message went along with the one about having money and being successful. Maybe I'm confused. But overall I really enjoyed reading your analysis of "Good Life," it was really insightful and well thought out.
Oct 21, 2008
comment on: http://johnli1992.blogspot.com/
I like that you stated money "adds onto having a good life" since it is mentioned so often in the song (chorus). Money was also on our Popular Culture's Messages list from class, "get money." Your clarification of "I never seen snakes on a plane," was about sex, I did not realize that until I read the lyrics. Although you could have elaborated after the lyrics in #2, you just mentioned that it was about women, "if you're up to date with the modern day slang." You also could have paraphrased that section of lyrics and then analyzed. Interesting point in #4, when you said you were not too interested in this type of music, but you "vividly remember what was on the video." I believe a huge part of pop culture is how the message is presented. The lights, bold words, pictures to go with the lyrics, etc...its all a way to draw their audience/consumers in to believing the message.
Oct 19, 2008
Assignment #4: Pop Culture
1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life? Paraphrase the main idea.
I chose “All you need is Love” by the Beatles, for its lyrics are very simple and repetitive, yet they are very deep and have a strong message within them. Whether it is a good or bad message I have yet to discover, but hopefully within my analysis I will figure out the message. The song’s message may be how to live a good life or how to live an “okay” life.
The song “All You Need is Love” is basically saying in order to live a good life all one needs is love. One can do anything in life without any trouble at all if they have love. Love is the only thing in life that a person needs to do anything. One can make, say, do, sing, learn, know, see, etc. One can do anything in life with ease, if they have love.
2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.
The lyrics plainly say to the audience, “there’s nothing you can do that can’t be done…all you need is love,” meaning one can accomplish anything in life and live a good life if they have love. “All you need is love.” It is also said you can do anything, “its easy.” Life can be easy if you have love in your life or if one believes in love. The Beatles write in the lyrics: “you can learn how to play the game,” do they mean the game of love? Why is love titled as a game? So if love is a game, you have to learn how to play the game of love so you can “learn how to be you in time.” But I still do not understand why learning the game of love will help one learn to be oneself in time?
Although I do understand that loving yourself will help you understand yourself and that is how to live a good life. The part of this song that confuses me to the point of annoyance is that the Beatles say, “love is a game” that one must learn to play, why must love be a game? I feel love should be a feeling one has within them, about themselves and towards others and not something to toy with, or “throw around,” it can be hurtful to oneself and towards others. Which could possibly turn a good life into a bad way to live.
3. How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics? Analyze.
The video images support the song’s lyrics in many ways. Firstly the Beatles were all wearing lightly colored clothing, some with a floral print. Giving this peaceful image, a hippie-vibe. Everyone in the video looks happy and they look like they are having fun, listening to music, singing along, and
But I believe they are missing a very important part of the message, “all you need is love,” you have to be able to love yourself before you can love others. You have to know and understand yourself, before you know how to express that emotion to somebody else. This is something they do not mention in the song and I believe it is very important to live a “good life.”
4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared.
In the lyrics: the word “love” is written 32 times. The couple of last lines of the song are interesting: “She loves you.” During the entire song it talks about how all one needs in life is love, but at that end they sing about how “she” loves a person. This leaves me with a few questions: 1. Who is “she?” 2. Why does “she love you?” 3. Why is this line said at the end of the song? 4. Who is this intended for? Who is meant to here this? 5. Why is it significant to the song in general? 6. Does it have another meaning or significance? Does it have a deeper meaning?
In the video: the people did not seem to be too into the song, except one guy who was singing alone. There was a group of people. A peace sign was hanging from the ceiling, along with a large structure of the Earth. It looks like this was filmed in a studio, since the camera keeps zooming in and out so the one can get a full view from all angles. Balloons, flowers, people playing stringed instruments, and people playing the trombone and trumpets; wearing light colors: purple, light blue, white, turquoise, balloons w/ the word “LOVE” written on them. Crowd bops their heads, claps their heads. Wears a flower behind his ear, smiles, and dancing. Near the end of the song people start walking around with huge signs saying, “L AMOUR V LIEBE,” “COME BACK MILLY’S,” “LOVE JIOBOV AMOR AMORE” (or something like that), “NEED LOVE?” Confetti falls and people dance as the music fades away. At the end of the video there is a picture of the world, which I guess could mean, peace on Earth, or something like that.
I chose “All you need is Love” by the Beatles, for its lyrics are very simple and repetitive, yet they are very deep and have a strong message within them. Whether it is a good or bad message I have yet to discover, but hopefully within my analysis I will figure out the message. The song’s message may be how to live a good life or how to live an “okay” life.
The song “All You Need is Love” is basically saying in order to live a good life all one needs is love. One can do anything in life without any trouble at all if they have love. Love is the only thing in life that a person needs to do anything. One can make, say, do, sing, learn, know, see, etc. One can do anything in life with ease, if they have love.
2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.
The lyrics plainly say to the audience, “there’s nothing you can do that can’t be done…all you need is love,” meaning one can accomplish anything in life and live a good life if they have love. “All you need is love.” It is also said you can do anything, “its easy.” Life can be easy if you have love in your life or if one believes in love. The Beatles write in the lyrics: “you can learn how to play the game,” do they mean the game of love? Why is love titled as a game? So if love is a game, you have to learn how to play the game of love so you can “learn how to be you in time.” But I still do not understand why learning the game of love will help one learn to be oneself in time?
Although I do understand that loving yourself will help you understand yourself and that is how to live a good life. The part of this song that confuses me to the point of annoyance is that the Beatles say, “love is a game” that one must learn to play, why must love be a game? I feel love should be a feeling one has within them, about themselves and towards others and not something to toy with, or “throw around,” it can be hurtful to oneself and towards others. Which could possibly turn a good life into a bad way to live.
3. How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics? Analyze.
The video images support the song’s lyrics in many ways. Firstly the Beatles were all wearing lightly colored clothing, some with a floral print. Giving this peaceful image, a hippie-vibe. Everyone in the video looks happy and they look like they are having fun, listening to music, singing along, and
But I believe they are missing a very important part of the message, “all you need is love,” you have to be able to love yourself before you can love others. You have to know and understand yourself, before you know how to express that emotion to somebody else. This is something they do not mention in the song and I believe it is very important to live a “good life.”
4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared.
In the lyrics: the word “love” is written 32 times. The couple of last lines of the song are interesting: “She loves you.” During the entire song it talks about how all one needs in life is love, but at that end they sing about how “she” loves a person. This leaves me with a few questions: 1. Who is “she?” 2. Why does “she love you?” 3. Why is this line said at the end of the song? 4. Who is this intended for? Who is meant to here this? 5. Why is it significant to the song in general? 6. Does it have another meaning or significance? Does it have a deeper meaning?
In the video: the people did not seem to be too into the song, except one guy who was singing alone. There was a group of people. A peace sign was hanging from the ceiling, along with a large structure of the Earth. It looks like this was filmed in a studio, since the camera keeps zooming in and out so the one can get a full view from all angles. Balloons, flowers, people playing stringed instruments, and people playing the trombone and trumpets; wearing light colors: purple, light blue, white, turquoise, balloons w/ the word “LOVE” written on them. Crowd bops their heads, claps their heads. Wears a flower behind his ear, smiles, and dancing. Near the end of the song people start walking around with huge signs saying, “L AMOUR V LIEBE,” “COME BACK MILLY’S,” “LOVE JIOBOV AMOR AMORE” (or something like that), “NEED LOVE?” Confetti falls and people dance as the music fades away. At the end of the video there is a picture of the world, which I guess could mean, peace on Earth, or something like that.
Oct 13, 2008
Assignment #3-photo upload not working
What do the people around you say about living meaningfully?
Some would say that they live a meaningful life because that is what they believe they are doing each and everyday of their life. Walking down the street in New York City I had the opportunity to interview a few strangers and pry out their personal opinions from their tightly clenched consciences.
It was interesting to hear what random people walking down the street had to say about their meaning of life. But it must have been extremely weird from their perspective on the matter. Looking back over my notes I realized that many of my interviewees gave vague answers to the questions I asked. Such as: (1) What is wisdom, (2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful would you say your life is? (3) What are the most meaningful aspects of you life? (4) Do you have any meaningless aspects of your life? If so, what are they? (5) Do you think any human life is sacred? Most people were in such a hurry to get on with their everyday lives, they felt they had little time to spend discussing their own meaning of life.
When I first began asking each person a question they gave answers in a rush and the answer was usually a one or two word answer. But as the interview progressed they seemed to have started to actually think deeply about the question asked and what they truly thought.
My first street interview, with a random person, was a woman, most likely in her early to mid-thirties walking down Park Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, with black flats. I spotted her on her way to the deli. She seemed quite alarmed and uninterested when I introduced myself and mentioned that I would like to ask her a few questions on her meaning of life for my course paper. This seemed to be a pattern in most people’s behavior when a stranger walks up to them and wants to ask them questions.
The next person I saw on the street was a homeless man who sits by a mailbox on 18th street and Park Avenue. He always sits there and talks to people walking by. For these interviews I really wanted to talk to a variety of people so I figured it was be interesting to people who have different perspectives on their lives and how to live them, just by looking at them.
I was also able to interview the winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohan who was sponsoring an event that happened to be very meaningful to him. He is apart of an organization called Grassroot Soccer. A friend of his was also there recording the event on a video camera allowed me to have an interview with him as well. But as I had listened to them speak individually I found that even though they both found that this organization is important to them they had very different ideas about the meaning of their lives’.
I also was able to interview my mom and my younger brother. It was quite interesting to hear what my younger brother, Jin, had to say about how meaningful his life is because he is the youngest interviewee I had. I felt that he would have a new and fresh look on the world and the meaningful aspects of life. Which is completely true, unlike anyone else I was able to interview, Jin, was the only one who did not say friends were a meaningful aspects of his life but instead said that his bed was. Jin described his bed as being “a sanctuary” he does not like to share his bed with anyone else, it is very personal to him. He finds it peaceful and it should be a meaningful place because he “will spend one-third of his life sleeping,” it is a necessity of life.
A pattern that I noticed during my interviews was that most everyone said that family is a meaningful aspect of their life. I wonder why people say family is the most meaningful aspect of their life as if it is just something you say, like an automatic answer. For instance, if I were to ask someone, what are the most meaningful aspects of your life, the fist think to come out of their mouth is “family,” then there is a pause because they start thinking about other aspects of their life that are meaningful as well.
Although the homeless man on 18th street and Park Avenue and Ethan Zohan did not say that family was one of the most meaningful aspect of their lives, the homeless man said that “children are meaningful” and Ethan said that “the organization Grassroot Soccer is meaningful” to him. This is so because the homeless man and Ethan do not have family around them or mention a husband/wife/children, or have any sign that they were with family or married for that fact. Whereas the other interviewees all said that family is one of the most meaningful aspects of their lives’. (i.e. my mom, my younger brother, the woman walking to the deli, and the video man). The homeless man was not with any family or lives with any family. But he does notice the children of New York City and realizes “they are our future.” So he feels that children are a meaningful aspect of this life. Ethan on the other hand did not mention children as a meaningful aspect of his life but said that the organization he is apart of Grassroot Soccer is meaningful to him because it helps people in need. Ethan also did not have any family at the organization’s event unlike the cameraman who had his wife there.
It is one of those interesting things about life, where complete strangers think alike and yet have different beliefs or in other cases do not think alike at all.
Some would say that they live a meaningful life because that is what they believe they are doing each and everyday of their life. Walking down the street in New York City I had the opportunity to interview a few strangers and pry out their personal opinions from their tightly clenched consciences.
It was interesting to hear what random people walking down the street had to say about their meaning of life. But it must have been extremely weird from their perspective on the matter. Looking back over my notes I realized that many of my interviewees gave vague answers to the questions I asked. Such as: (1) What is wisdom, (2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful would you say your life is? (3) What are the most meaningful aspects of you life? (4) Do you have any meaningless aspects of your life? If so, what are they? (5) Do you think any human life is sacred? Most people were in such a hurry to get on with their everyday lives, they felt they had little time to spend discussing their own meaning of life.
When I first began asking each person a question they gave answers in a rush and the answer was usually a one or two word answer. But as the interview progressed they seemed to have started to actually think deeply about the question asked and what they truly thought.
My first street interview, with a random person, was a woman, most likely in her early to mid-thirties walking down Park Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, with black flats. I spotted her on her way to the deli. She seemed quite alarmed and uninterested when I introduced myself and mentioned that I would like to ask her a few questions on her meaning of life for my course paper. This seemed to be a pattern in most people’s behavior when a stranger walks up to them and wants to ask them questions.
The next person I saw on the street was a homeless man who sits by a mailbox on 18th street and Park Avenue. He always sits there and talks to people walking by. For these interviews I really wanted to talk to a variety of people so I figured it was be interesting to people who have different perspectives on their lives and how to live them, just by looking at them.
I was also able to interview the winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohan who was sponsoring an event that happened to be very meaningful to him. He is apart of an organization called Grassroot Soccer. A friend of his was also there recording the event on a video camera allowed me to have an interview with him as well. But as I had listened to them speak individually I found that even though they both found that this organization is important to them they had very different ideas about the meaning of their lives’.
I also was able to interview my mom and my younger brother. It was quite interesting to hear what my younger brother, Jin, had to say about how meaningful his life is because he is the youngest interviewee I had. I felt that he would have a new and fresh look on the world and the meaningful aspects of life. Which is completely true, unlike anyone else I was able to interview, Jin, was the only one who did not say friends were a meaningful aspects of his life but instead said that his bed was. Jin described his bed as being “a sanctuary” he does not like to share his bed with anyone else, it is very personal to him. He finds it peaceful and it should be a meaningful place because he “will spend one-third of his life sleeping,” it is a necessity of life.
A pattern that I noticed during my interviews was that most everyone said that family is a meaningful aspect of their life. I wonder why people say family is the most meaningful aspect of their life as if it is just something you say, like an automatic answer. For instance, if I were to ask someone, what are the most meaningful aspects of your life, the fist think to come out of their mouth is “family,” then there is a pause because they start thinking about other aspects of their life that are meaningful as well.
Although the homeless man on 18th street and Park Avenue and Ethan Zohan did not say that family was one of the most meaningful aspect of their lives, the homeless man said that “children are meaningful” and Ethan said that “the organization Grassroot Soccer is meaningful” to him. This is so because the homeless man and Ethan do not have family around them or mention a husband/wife/children, or have any sign that they were with family or married for that fact. Whereas the other interviewees all said that family is one of the most meaningful aspects of their lives’. (i.e. my mom, my younger brother, the woman walking to the deli, and the video man). The homeless man was not with any family or lives with any family. But he does notice the children of New York City and realizes “they are our future.” So he feels that children are a meaningful aspect of this life. Ethan on the other hand did not mention children as a meaningful aspect of his life but said that the organization he is apart of Grassroot Soccer is meaningful to him because it helps people in need. Ethan also did not have any family at the organization’s event unlike the cameraman who had his wife there.
It is one of those interesting things about life, where complete strangers think alike and yet have different beliefs or in other cases do not think alike at all.
Oct 12, 2008
not done yet 10/10/08
What do the people around you say about living meaningfully?
Some would say that they live a meaningful life because that is what they believe they are doing each and everyday of their life. Walking down the street in New York City I had the opportunity to interview a few strangers and pry out their personal opinions from their tightly clenched consciences.
It was interesting to hear what random people walking down the street had to say about their meaning of life. But it must have been extremely weird from their perspective on the matter. Looking back over my notes I realized that many of my interviewees gave vague answers to the questions I asked. Such as: (1) What is wisdom, (2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful would you say your life is? (3) What are the most meaningful aspects of you life? (4) Do you have any meaningless aspects of your life? If so, what are they? (5) Do you think any human life is sacred? Most people were in such a hurry to get on with their everyday lives, they felt they had little time to spend discussing their own meaning of life.
When I first began asking each person a question they gave answers in a rush and the answer was usually a one or two word answer. But as the interview progressed they seemed to have started to actually think deeply about the question asked and what they truly thought.
My first street interview, with a random person, was a woman, most likely in her early to mid-thirties walking down Park Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, with black flats. I spotted her on her way to the deli. She seemed quite alarmed and uninterested when I introduced myself and mentioned that I would like to ask her a few questions on her meaning of life for my course paper. This seemed to be a pattern in most people’s behavior when a stranger walks up to them and wants to ask them questions.
The next person I saw on the street was a homeless man who sits by a mailbox on 18th street and Park Avenue. He always sits there and talks to people walking by. For these interviews I really wanted to talk to a variety of people so I figured it was be interesting to people who have different perspectives on their lives and how to live them, just by looking at them.
I was also able to interview the winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohan who was sponsoring an event that happened to be very meaningful to him. He is apart of an organization called Grassroot Soccer. A friend of his was also there recording the event on a video camera allowed me to have an interview with him as well. But as I had listened to them speak individually I found that even though they both found that this organization is important to them they had very different ideas about the meaning of their lives’.
Some would say that they live a meaningful life because that is what they believe they are doing each and everyday of their life. Walking down the street in New York City I had the opportunity to interview a few strangers and pry out their personal opinions from their tightly clenched consciences.
It was interesting to hear what random people walking down the street had to say about their meaning of life. But it must have been extremely weird from their perspective on the matter. Looking back over my notes I realized that many of my interviewees gave vague answers to the questions I asked. Such as: (1) What is wisdom, (2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful would you say your life is? (3) What are the most meaningful aspects of you life? (4) Do you have any meaningless aspects of your life? If so, what are they? (5) Do you think any human life is sacred? Most people were in such a hurry to get on with their everyday lives, they felt they had little time to spend discussing their own meaning of life.
When I first began asking each person a question they gave answers in a rush and the answer was usually a one or two word answer. But as the interview progressed they seemed to have started to actually think deeply about the question asked and what they truly thought.
My first street interview, with a random person, was a woman, most likely in her early to mid-thirties walking down Park Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, with black flats. I spotted her on her way to the deli. She seemed quite alarmed and uninterested when I introduced myself and mentioned that I would like to ask her a few questions on her meaning of life for my course paper. This seemed to be a pattern in most people’s behavior when a stranger walks up to them and wants to ask them questions.
The next person I saw on the street was a homeless man who sits by a mailbox on 18th street and Park Avenue. He always sits there and talks to people walking by. For these interviews I really wanted to talk to a variety of people so I figured it was be interesting to people who have different perspectives on their lives and how to live them, just by looking at them.
I was also able to interview the winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohan who was sponsoring an event that happened to be very meaningful to him. He is apart of an organization called Grassroot Soccer. A friend of his was also there recording the event on a video camera allowed me to have an interview with him as well. But as I had listened to them speak individually I found that even though they both found that this organization is important to them they had very different ideas about the meaning of their lives’.
Oct 7, 2008
Rough "Rough" Draft of Assignment 3...its basically just notes and my personal thoughts 10/07/08
The interviews:
Ian
1) What is wisdom?
→Understanding yourself, experience.
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→8
3) What are the most meaningful parts of your life?
→Family and friends
4) What makes a life meaningful?
→“Having fun, doing what I like to do.”
5) What is meaningless in you life?
→“Umm…tv.”
6) How can you make your life more meaningful?
→“Having fun doing everything.”
Lady with perfume, black shirt, jeans, middle aged (maybe in mid-thirties), on Park Ave.
1) What is wisdom?
→Age
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→10 (she took a minute to answer this question but when she did, she said it with confidence and definitively)
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”My family, my friends, and my health are very important to me.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Umm…..I guess material things.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Ahh, wow [laughing], umm…yes.”
Homeless man sitting against the mail box on 18th St. and Park Ave, white beard, yellow teeth.
1) What is wisdom?
→”I would say wisdom is knowledge.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”I believe my life has purpose, so I would say 8, [laughing] I’d like to be a 10 to tell you the truth.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Children, yes, they are very important. They are our future. We need to outreach and teach them more.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Hmm, money. You know money isn’t everything. Do we need it, yes. Do we want it, yes, sometimes. But its not always needed. Have you every heard people say ‘money is the rule of all evil’? I believe that’s true.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Yes I would like to think that is true but no…people should be, but they don’t [grave digging, war, etc.], I’d like to think so.”
Video man, Grassroot Soccer, MLS W.O.R.K.S., to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, (in mid to late 20’s), standing outside of Chipotle [Union Square]
1) What is wisdom?
→“Ahhmm….wisdom, I’d say is experience and age, yea.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”[sigh] a 7.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Meaningful parts? Umm…defiantly sports, I like sports and my family. Oh and this conversation with you is meaningful because without you asking me that question I would have never thought of what is meaningful to me. So thanks for that.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”I’d like to say soccer [laughing] oh but no, no, umm….religion.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”It depends.”
Ethan Zohan, winner of Survivor: Africa, in charge of Grassroot Soccer, MLS W.O.R.K.S., to raise awareness about HIV/ AIDS, standing outside of Chipotle [Union Square]
Ethan Zohan is the guy in the front row with curly hair.
1) What is wisdom?
→”What is wisdom…wisdom is knowledge and having the ability to spread happiness to others.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”[laughing] I’m a 7.962.” (I just wanted to mention, I don’t think Ethan was taking this question seriously but whatever, at least I got an answer out of him, he seemed stubborn at times.)
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”This organization, Grassroot Soccer in coaliation with MLS W.O.R.K.S. is very meaningful to me. That’s what everyone is doing here today, we kicked soccer balls around the city and the commissioner has come down to present us with an official certificate of recognition, naming today October 3, 2008 Dribble Day 2008. Soccer is very rewarding, it’s my favorite sport and it helps kids stay healthy.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Hmm…everything has a purpose in life.” (he made a joke about his hair being useless, he has it but its not that important to him)
5) Is human life sacred?
→”yes.”
Kimberley Ann Omae, my mom, mother of two, 52.
1) What is wisdom?
→”Wisdom is experience, you have to have experienced it yourself.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”10.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”My children are the most meaningful to me and of course my own life.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”rare and few.” (that’s all she told me, I tried to get a better or clearer answer from here but she was too tired)
5) Is human life sacred?
“yes.”
Jin Nicholas Omae, younger brother, attends School of the Future, 16.
1) What is wisdom?
→”Knowledge.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”9.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Ok…(1) Family (2) my bed – its my sanctuary and I spend 1/3 of my life there (3) my personal space.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Ughhhh [sighing]…they are endless – garbage, Jessica Cooper, ‘The Sound of Music,’ charities, etc.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Not really, no.” (I was not satisfied with this answer so I asked him what he meant.) “I just don’t think that 1 person is going to change the world you know. One person is not that significant. No one person has more significance than the other.”
One thing that I found quite interesting is after a few questions I think many of the people I had interviewed found themselves puzzled. I do not think they had never taken the time to think about the meaning of their life or if they have any meaningful aspects of their life. I also think it was the fact that a complete stranger was asking these questions.
Ian
1) What is wisdom?
→Understanding yourself, experience.
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→8
3) What are the most meaningful parts of your life?
→Family and friends
4) What makes a life meaningful?
→“Having fun, doing what I like to do.”
5) What is meaningless in you life?
→“Umm…tv.”
6) How can you make your life more meaningful?
→“Having fun doing everything.”
Lady with perfume, black shirt, jeans, middle aged (maybe in mid-thirties), on Park Ave.
1) What is wisdom?
→Age
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→10 (she took a minute to answer this question but when she did, she said it with confidence and definitively)
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”My family, my friends, and my health are very important to me.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Umm…..I guess material things.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Ahh, wow [laughing], umm…yes.”
Homeless man sitting against the mail box on 18th St. and Park Ave, white beard, yellow teeth.
1) What is wisdom?
→”I would say wisdom is knowledge.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”I believe my life has purpose, so I would say 8, [laughing] I’d like to be a 10 to tell you the truth.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Children, yes, they are very important. They are our future. We need to outreach and teach them more.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Hmm, money. You know money isn’t everything. Do we need it, yes. Do we want it, yes, sometimes. But its not always needed. Have you every heard people say ‘money is the rule of all evil’? I believe that’s true.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Yes I would like to think that is true but no…people should be, but they don’t [grave digging, war, etc.], I’d like to think so.”
Video man, Grassroot Soccer, MLS W.O.R.K.S., to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, (in mid to late 20’s), standing outside of Chipotle [Union Square]
1) What is wisdom?
→“Ahhmm….wisdom, I’d say is experience and age, yea.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”[sigh] a 7.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Meaningful parts? Umm…defiantly sports, I like sports and my family. Oh and this conversation with you is meaningful because without you asking me that question I would have never thought of what is meaningful to me. So thanks for that.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”I’d like to say soccer [laughing] oh but no, no, umm….religion.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”It depends.”
Ethan Zohan, winner of Survivor: Africa, in charge of Grassroot Soccer, MLS W.O.R.K.S., to raise awareness about HIV/ AIDS, standing outside of Chipotle [Union Square]
Ethan Zohan is the guy in the front row with curly hair.
1) What is wisdom?
→”What is wisdom…wisdom is knowledge and having the ability to spread happiness to others.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”[laughing] I’m a 7.962.” (I just wanted to mention, I don’t think Ethan was taking this question seriously but whatever, at least I got an answer out of him, he seemed stubborn at times.)
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”This organization, Grassroot Soccer in coaliation with MLS W.O.R.K.S. is very meaningful to me. That’s what everyone is doing here today, we kicked soccer balls around the city and the commissioner has come down to present us with an official certificate of recognition, naming today October 3, 2008 Dribble Day 2008. Soccer is very rewarding, it’s my favorite sport and it helps kids stay healthy.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Hmm…everything has a purpose in life.” (he made a joke about his hair being useless, he has it but its not that important to him)
5) Is human life sacred?
→”yes.”
Kimberley Ann Omae, my mom, mother of two, 52.
1) What is wisdom?
→”Wisdom is experience, you have to have experienced it yourself.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”10.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”My children are the most meaningful to me and of course my own life.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”rare and few.” (that’s all she told me, I tried to get a better or clearer answer from here but she was too tired)
5) Is human life sacred?
“yes.”
Jin Nicholas Omae, younger brother, attends School of the Future, 16.
1) What is wisdom?
→”Knowledge.”
2) On a scale of 1-10 how meaningful is your life?
→”9.”
3) What are the meaningful aspects of your life?
→”Ok…(1) Family (2) my bed – its my sanctuary and I spend 1/3 of my life there (3) my personal space.”
4) What are the meaningless aspects of your life?
→”Ughhhh [sighing]…they are endless – garbage, Jessica Cooper, ‘The Sound of Music,’ charities, etc.”
5) Is human life sacred?
→”Not really, no.” (I was not satisfied with this answer so I asked him what he meant.) “I just don’t think that 1 person is going to change the world you know. One person is not that significant. No one person has more significance than the other.”
One thing that I found quite interesting is after a few questions I think many of the people I had interviewed found themselves puzzled. I do not think they had never taken the time to think about the meaning of their life or if they have any meaningful aspects of their life. I also think it was the fact that a complete stranger was asking these questions.
Sep 22, 2008
comment I left 9/22/08
Hey Kate
thanks for the comment. I liked your video/slideshow as well. I especially like that you included pictures of your family. Looking back at my video, I wish I had used more photos of my family since I think family is a very meaningful aspect of my life. I believe it was question 3, where you mentioned you would have liked to include your drawings since it is also meaningful to you. I agree it would have been great to see some of your work from your design journal. I also had the same problem, there where several aspects of my life that I did not have the time to include. I also liked your question at the end, I paraphrased it, does a completely meaningful life exist? It is an interesting question to ask.
thanks for the comment. I liked your video/slideshow as well. I especially like that you included pictures of your family. Looking back at my video, I wish I had used more photos of my family since I think family is a very meaningful aspect of my life. I believe it was question 3, where you mentioned you would have liked to include your drawings since it is also meaningful to you. I agree it would have been great to see some of your work from your design journal. I also had the same problem, there where several aspects of my life that I did not have the time to include. I also liked your question at the end, I paraphrased it, does a completely meaningful life exist? It is an interesting question to ask.
Sep 17, 2008
Let me Know 9/17/08
Let me know if anything written below does not make any sense or if I should elaborate on something, I am extremely tired and may have made some mistakes.
Written Portion of Project: Description, Video/Slideshow, Analysis & Insight
Description:
1. What have you included in this video?
In this video/slide show, I have used my photography to show an aspect of my life that has meaning to me, my art. Within my photography I have captured aspects of my life such as, friends, Crispin, Ben, Dean, Morell, Nick, etc.; my family, my younger brother Jin; and places in my neighborhood. I have also included food and interesting things I’ve seen in my life so far. I would also like to clarify and just point out that I had, in the beginning of this project, wanted to include that aspects of my life that do not brim with meaning. But after much deliberation I have made a final decision to cut out the part of my project that would have had photographs of the aspects of my life, which lack meaning (i.e. responsibilities, etc.). I have made this decision because I feel that if they do not have meaning in my life then I do not wish to mention them in a project that I believe is about showing the aspects of my life that brim with meaning and those that matter to me and who I am. I have also chosen one of my favorite songs to play during the video/slideshow.
2. Which parts of the video related to relatively meaningful aspects of your life? Which parts related to relatively meaningless aspects of your life?
Art is and has been a large part of my life as an interest and a hobby. I love to be creative and photography has been one of my favorite ways to show my creativity. I have not taken any photography classes, yet, but it has been something I have wanted to do for a while. I would like to improve my knowledge and skills with a camera; I believe with a deeper understanding of the art, it could become a more meaningful aspect in my life than it is now.
In this video I am using my photography to show the meaningful aspects of my life, which are: my ART, my family and friends, and the places in my neighborhood.
I started getting into photography about a year ago, when I bought a Sony digital camera with my own money, which I was very proud that I had saved up that much. Although after a month or two I was bored of it so I bought another camera, except this camera happened to be a film camera (that I bought at Urban Outfitters, not too proud of) it was a Diana Camera. It was basically a remake of an older plastic made camera that was popular in the 1980s. Meanwhile my brother, Jin, noticed that I was interested in photography and reminded me that I have had an old Polaroid 250 Land Camera. For my birthday he was nice enough to research and buy the type of Polaroid film needed for the camera. So very soon I was interested in film cameras and Polaroid cameras. I also like to collect cameras so I bought a Bolsey Model C Twin Lens Reflex (off ebay). At first I thought it was functional but I later learned there was something wrong with it and I am still trying to fix the problem because I believe it would be a great camera to use. Just a few weeks ago I happened to be walking around Red Hook and stopped into an antique shop next to Hope & Anchor (an excellent restaurant for breakfast/brunch and even dinner). I love antique shopping (a majority of my room is antique furniture) so Jin and I decided to have a look. There was a large glass case and inside it I noticed this Honeywell Pentax Camera (film) and automatically fell in love with it. So I ended up buying it for only $35 and it works fantastically, I absolutely love the picture quality and the fact that it is a film camera. Photography is my hobby, my passion, and it is an extremely meaningful aspect of my life.
In this video are photographs of my friends that I took myself because they are meaningful to my life. My friends are there for company, support, and relationships (between friends). I included photos of people who have been my friend since 9th grade and photos of those who I meet a few weeks ago. No matter the length of the relationship between us, friends/friendship is still a very important and meaningful aspect of my life. I care about my friends because we have formed a bond over the years or in some cases a few weeks. I hope I am always there for my friends when they need me and I hope they would do the same for me in return.
My family is probably one of the most important and meaningful aspects of my life. I live with my mom, Kim, and my younger brother, Jin. My dad, who I call Pop lives in Manhattan and I visit him every once in a while. But my mom and my brother have always been there for me and I care about them very much. I love having my family so close to me and I feel, the older I get the more I realize how important and meaningful they are in my life. I believe that’s because when I was younger I didn’t care about the meaning of life and what aspects of my life are meaningful to me, I was consumed in cartoons, playing tag, and making berry dirt pies. But now I realize just how meaningful they are to me.
Cobble Hill has been my neighborhood for the past year and I love living here. It’s a cute/small neighborhood right next to Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Red Hook. I live right across the street from the water, by the pier with the cranes and construction. There is also a bike path that runs along the sidewalk by the pier, which reminds me of the west side by Pier 40, just less crowded. My neighborhood is an important aspect of my life because it is where I live and where I find some of my inspiration for photography.
3. What would you have liked to have included but weren’t able to?
Unfortunately it took a lot of time and patience to upload all of my photographs to my laptop so I was unable to include all of my art even thought I would have loved to include them in this project. My art is very important to me and I like to include as much as I can into any viewing or project that I can because it is a part of who I am and I believe I can speak through my art.
I would have loved to include photographs of my mom, Kim, and my father, Ariki, since all you see in the slides is my brother, Jin, since we hang out a lot and he’s always around. I also would have liked to include all of my friends since many were excluded from this project. Adding video would have been nice as well instead of just looking at photos.
I would have liked to include photos or footage of other aspects of my life that are also meaningful like my clothing, my room, my heritage, etc.
Brimming with Meaning from Reiko Omae on Vimeo.
Analysis & Insight:
4. What seem to be some of the main criteria you use (emotionally +/or mentally) to assess how meaningful an aspect of your life is?
I would like to say that I think of something as being meaningful because I like or love it, have an interest in it or I have a personal connection with this “thing” or if it happens to be a person. If a person, place, or thing has an importance or is a meaningful aspect of my life I would say I am very interested in it, therefore it has more meaning.
I would like to quote a fellow classmate: “the more power I have, I find it more meaningful and interesting.” –John
I completely agree and feel the same way as John, if there is an aspect of my life in which I have more power over it and make more decisions about it, the more interested I am in the aspect. Therefore, the more meaningful it is in my life. I don’t think I like the way this sounds but power is a part of what I find meaningful in my life and what I do not.
5. Is there a pattern in what you find meaningful or meaningless? What are some of the elements in that pattern?
I would say that there is a slight pattern in what I find meaningful and meaningless and I believe it has to do with the point made above about power and interest, leading to the meaningfulness in my life. I also have found that people who I feel are meaningful aspects in my life, are people are themselves, true to everyone. In other words “no masks” which hide who they truly are, but it may be difficult to find a person like that because everyone has a mask. The mask may be a large full-face mask (Spider man), a partially hidden face by medium sized mask (Batman), and then there is the mask that just covers the eyes (). I think people can still be themselves on the inside and then where a mask on the outside. I just hope that the mask does not take over the person wearing it. I feel that people who are meaningful to my life are themselves, they may look different but they are still the same people on the inside. People who are “fake” or let the mask become who they are
So the pattern would be that I find people who are real, true, themselves to be more meaningful than the people who let the mask control who they are, or I should say, who they were. Then this process of deciding who is meaningful and who is not continues. Whenever I think if “this” person is meaningful to me or not I think of the “masks.”
Another pattern I find in determining the meaningfulness of people or aspects of my life is this power situation above. The more power I have in making my own decision(s) the more interested I am in the aspect of my life being discussed, and therefore I believe it has more meaning or less meaning.
6. Looking at the video as a whole – is it a fairly honest/accurate depiction of your life? Does it make you seem interesting/special/exciting?
Looking at this video as a whole I would say that it is a fairly honest depiction of my life because I did not lie about anything, about my art, family, friends, etc. It is truthful and it is about me. But on the note of it being accurate I would have to say, that it is not completely accurate. This video is short and only shows a few of the aspects that are meaningful to my life. Although this video does show that I can be creative and that I enjoy the art of photography. Which are both aspects of my life that I believe to be accurate.
Hahaha.....I really don't think this video/slide show that I have made makes me seem interesting/special/or exciting, unless, someone thinks that I am that talented. But as for myself I would hope that this video/slideshow shows my love for photography and creativeness.
7. Does your life seem meaningful from an outside perspective? Is it from an inside perspective? Why?
It depends on the outside perspective, they do not know everything about me just from watching this video. (I am not even in it) They do not know what i consider to be meaningful, so I cannot say whether they would think my life if meaningful or meaningless.
From an inside perspective...well I'm not sure. If the inside perspective is coming from me then my opinion is the same, I believe my life is meaningful. And if this "inside perspective" is not me, then again, I am not sure.
8. What questions do you have about living a meaningful life at this point?
Will my life feel more meaningful than it does now? …in the future?
Is it meaningful to know if others think you life if meaningful? Shouldn’t you live your life based on your own opinion on whether or not you think your life is meaningful? Why should we listen to what other people think is meaningful about our own lives?
Do people really wear “masks,” trying to be other people?
1. What have you included in this video?
In this video/slide show, I have used my photography to show an aspect of my life that has meaning to me, my art. Within my photography I have captured aspects of my life such as, friends, Crispin, Ben, Dean, Morell, Nick, etc.; my family, my younger brother Jin; and places in my neighborhood. I have also included food and interesting things I’ve seen in my life so far. I would also like to clarify and just point out that I had, in the beginning of this project, wanted to include that aspects of my life that do not brim with meaning. But after much deliberation I have made a final decision to cut out the part of my project that would have had photographs of the aspects of my life, which lack meaning (i.e. responsibilities, etc.). I have made this decision because I feel that if they do not have meaning in my life then I do not wish to mention them in a project that I believe is about showing the aspects of my life that brim with meaning and those that matter to me and who I am. I have also chosen one of my favorite songs to play during the video/slideshow.
2. Which parts of the video related to relatively meaningful aspects of your life? Which parts related to relatively meaningless aspects of your life?
Art is and has been a large part of my life as an interest and a hobby. I love to be creative and photography has been one of my favorite ways to show my creativity. I have not taken any photography classes, yet, but it has been something I have wanted to do for a while. I would like to improve my knowledge and skills with a camera; I believe with a deeper understanding of the art, it could become a more meaningful aspect in my life than it is now.
In this video I am using my photography to show the meaningful aspects of my life, which are: my ART, my family and friends, and the places in my neighborhood.
I started getting into photography about a year ago, when I bought a Sony digital camera with my own money, which I was very proud that I had saved up that much. Although after a month or two I was bored of it so I bought another camera, except this camera happened to be a film camera (that I bought at Urban Outfitters, not too proud of) it was a Diana Camera. It was basically a remake of an older plastic made camera that was popular in the 1980s. Meanwhile my brother, Jin, noticed that I was interested in photography and reminded me that I have had an old Polaroid 250 Land Camera. For my birthday he was nice enough to research and buy the type of Polaroid film needed for the camera. So very soon I was interested in film cameras and Polaroid cameras. I also like to collect cameras so I bought a Bolsey Model C Twin Lens Reflex (off ebay). At first I thought it was functional but I later learned there was something wrong with it and I am still trying to fix the problem because I believe it would be a great camera to use. Just a few weeks ago I happened to be walking around Red Hook and stopped into an antique shop next to Hope & Anchor (an excellent restaurant for breakfast/brunch and even dinner). I love antique shopping (a majority of my room is antique furniture) so Jin and I decided to have a look. There was a large glass case and inside it I noticed this Honeywell Pentax Camera (film) and automatically fell in love with it. So I ended up buying it for only $35 and it works fantastically, I absolutely love the picture quality and the fact that it is a film camera. Photography is my hobby, my passion, and it is an extremely meaningful aspect of my life.
In this video are photographs of my friends that I took myself because they are meaningful to my life. My friends are there for company, support, and relationships (between friends). I included photos of people who have been my friend since 9th grade and photos of those who I meet a few weeks ago. No matter the length of the relationship between us, friends/friendship is still a very important and meaningful aspect of my life. I care about my friends because we have formed a bond over the years or in some cases a few weeks. I hope I am always there for my friends when they need me and I hope they would do the same for me in return.
My family is probably one of the most important and meaningful aspects of my life. I live with my mom, Kim, and my younger brother, Jin. My dad, who I call Pop lives in Manhattan and I visit him every once in a while. But my mom and my brother have always been there for me and I care about them very much. I love having my family so close to me and I feel, the older I get the more I realize how important and meaningful they are in my life. I believe that’s because when I was younger I didn’t care about the meaning of life and what aspects of my life are meaningful to me, I was consumed in cartoons, playing tag, and making berry dirt pies. But now I realize just how meaningful they are to me.
Cobble Hill has been my neighborhood for the past year and I love living here. It’s a cute/small neighborhood right next to Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Red Hook. I live right across the street from the water, by the pier with the cranes and construction. There is also a bike path that runs along the sidewalk by the pier, which reminds me of the west side by Pier 40, just less crowded. My neighborhood is an important aspect of my life because it is where I live and where I find some of my inspiration for photography.
3. What would you have liked to have included but weren’t able to?
Unfortunately it took a lot of time and patience to upload all of my photographs to my laptop so I was unable to include all of my art even thought I would have loved to include them in this project. My art is very important to me and I like to include as much as I can into any viewing or project that I can because it is a part of who I am and I believe I can speak through my art.
I would have loved to include photographs of my mom, Kim, and my father, Ariki, since all you see in the slides is my brother, Jin, since we hang out a lot and he’s always around. I also would have liked to include all of my friends since many were excluded from this project. Adding video would have been nice as well instead of just looking at photos.
I would have liked to include photos or footage of other aspects of my life that are also meaningful like my clothing, my room, my heritage, etc.
Brimming with Meaning from Reiko Omae on Vimeo.
Analysis & Insight:
4. What seem to be some of the main criteria you use (emotionally +/or mentally) to assess how meaningful an aspect of your life is?
I would like to say that I think of something as being meaningful because I like or love it, have an interest in it or I have a personal connection with this “thing” or if it happens to be a person. If a person, place, or thing has an importance or is a meaningful aspect of my life I would say I am very interested in it, therefore it has more meaning.
I would like to quote a fellow classmate: “the more power I have, I find it more meaningful and interesting.” –John
I completely agree and feel the same way as John, if there is an aspect of my life in which I have more power over it and make more decisions about it, the more interested I am in the aspect. Therefore, the more meaningful it is in my life. I don’t think I like the way this sounds but power is a part of what I find meaningful in my life and what I do not.
5. Is there a pattern in what you find meaningful or meaningless? What are some of the elements in that pattern?
I would say that there is a slight pattern in what I find meaningful and meaningless and I believe it has to do with the point made above about power and interest, leading to the meaningfulness in my life. I also have found that people who I feel are meaningful aspects in my life, are people are themselves, true to everyone. In other words “no masks” which hide who they truly are, but it may be difficult to find a person like that because everyone has a mask. The mask may be a large full-face mask (Spider man), a partially hidden face by medium sized mask (Batman), and then there is the mask that just covers the eyes (). I think people can still be themselves on the inside and then where a mask on the outside. I just hope that the mask does not take over the person wearing it. I feel that people who are meaningful to my life are themselves, they may look different but they are still the same people on the inside. People who are “fake” or let the mask become who they are
So the pattern would be that I find people who are real, true, themselves to be more meaningful than the people who let the mask control who they are, or I should say, who they were. Then this process of deciding who is meaningful and who is not continues. Whenever I think if “this” person is meaningful to me or not I think of the “masks.”
Another pattern I find in determining the meaningfulness of people or aspects of my life is this power situation above. The more power I have in making my own decision(s) the more interested I am in the aspect of my life being discussed, and therefore I believe it has more meaning or less meaning.
6. Looking at the video as a whole – is it a fairly honest/accurate depiction of your life? Does it make you seem interesting/special/exciting?
Looking at this video as a whole I would say that it is a fairly honest depiction of my life because I did not lie about anything, about my art, family, friends, etc. It is truthful and it is about me. But on the note of it being accurate I would have to say, that it is not completely accurate. This video is short and only shows a few of the aspects that are meaningful to my life. Although this video does show that I can be creative and that I enjoy the art of photography. Which are both aspects of my life that I believe to be accurate.
Hahaha.....I really don't think this video/slide show that I have made makes me seem interesting/special/or exciting, unless, someone thinks that I am that talented. But as for myself I would hope that this video/slideshow shows my love for photography and creativeness.
7. Does your life seem meaningful from an outside perspective? Is it from an inside perspective? Why?
It depends on the outside perspective, they do not know everything about me just from watching this video. (I am not even in it) They do not know what i consider to be meaningful, so I cannot say whether they would think my life if meaningful or meaningless.
From an inside perspective...well I'm not sure. If the inside perspective is coming from me then my opinion is the same, I believe my life is meaningful. And if this "inside perspective" is not me, then again, I am not sure.
8. What questions do you have about living a meaningful life at this point?
Will my life feel more meaningful than it does now? …in the future?
Is it meaningful to know if others think you life if meaningful? Shouldn’t you live your life based on your own opinion on whether or not you think your life is meaningful? Why should we listen to what other people think is meaningful about our own lives?
Do people really wear “masks,” trying to be other people?
Video Correction 9/17/08
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT MY VIDEO(S):
The video below shows one version of my project that includes both aspects of my life that brim with meaning and those that do not.
The second edit of my first video only shows the aspects of my life that brim with meaning. I explain in my writing portion, shown with the second video (above), why I decided to exclude the second half of my video.
So feel free to watch both versions. Although I must say the first video may not make much sense from the way i explain my reasoning for using art to portray the aspects of my life that lack meaning.
The video below shows one version of my project that includes both aspects of my life that brim with meaning and those that do not.
The second edit of my first video only shows the aspects of my life that brim with meaning. I explain in my writing portion, shown with the second video (above), why I decided to exclude the second half of my video.
So feel free to watch both versions. Although I must say the first video may not make much sense from the way i explain my reasoning for using art to portray the aspects of my life that lack meaning.
Sep 16, 2008
My Art is an Aspect of My Life That Brims with Meaning 9/16/08
My art is an aspect of my life that brims with meaning because I create it. It is a part of who I am as a person and it is a part of my life as a whole. I enjoy creating art and it is a large part of my life, it is a part of who I am. I can express myself through my art, therefore my art brims with meaning. I am making a slide show with photos that I have taken over the past weeks. They include my friends and family and show my love for photography. I will also include photos of other pieces of art that I have created, which I cannot physically show in person. Then the second half of my slide show will incorporate more of my photography but it will show another aspect of my life that does not brim with meaning and is not a large part of my life. This aspect will show parts of my life that do not interest me, therefore they do not bring any meaning to my life, or make me who I am. Aspect: Responsibilities and Parts of my everyday life.
Sep 15, 2008
Basic Outline & Personal Thoughts 9/15/08
Basic Outline:
Aspects of my Life that brim w/ meaning
-Art (Photography)
Then show art --> with photos (this is meaningful to me because I create it)
Then show aspects of my life that do not have meaning.
-Responsibilities and Parts of my Everyday life:
dishes
laundry
food shopping
homework
school/education-graduating, going to college
taxes
money
job (boring)-not interested in job
cleaning (use the two pictures of trash/food wrappers on the table to show a mess)
eating (The Underground (The Hidden City Cafe) take pictures of it, tired of eating there everyday, has no meaning to me, but it does to everyone else, I only go there because I don't want to eat lunch alone.)
Show this aspect (Responsibilities and Parts of my Everyday life) through MY art: photography
So I'm using an aspect of my life that brims with meaning to show an aspect of my life that does not brim with meaning.
I also have beginning slides with credits on it and so on and so forth. Still in progress.
Aspects of my Life that brim w/ meaning
-Art (Photography)
Then show art --> with photos (this is meaningful to me because I create it)
Then show aspects of my life that do not have meaning.
-Responsibilities and Parts of my Everyday life:
dishes
laundry
food shopping
homework
school/education-graduating, going to college
taxes
money
job (boring)-not interested in job
cleaning (use the two pictures of trash/food wrappers on the table to show a mess)
eating (The Underground (The Hidden City Cafe) take pictures of it, tired of eating there everyday, has no meaning to me, but it does to everyone else, I only go there because I don't want to eat lunch alone.)
Show this aspect (Responsibilities and Parts of my Everyday life) through MY art: photography
So I'm using an aspect of my life that brims with meaning to show an aspect of my life that does not brim with meaning.
I also have beginning slides with credits on it and so on and so forth. Still in progress.
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